Moribundity
by Koplak from the Equator
Summary: She coughed and she hacked...she is clearly dying. Tobi's worst nightmare comes out of dreamland and haunts him until the day begins again. Major TobiXOC. A little touch of lime. OOC.


**Moribundity**

**Disclaimer: None of these are mine excluding Yoru, my decision in giving Tobi and Madara separate bodies and making them brothers, and of course, the story plot.**

**A little warning: Tobi will act much more maturely than he's supposed to be. This story is actually rated T-M since it contains lime.**

She coughed. She hacked. She tried to spit it—them—out futilely. Desperation eating, she panted and wheezed a little as she powerlessly rested her forehead against the bathroom mirror in front of her. Her eyes saggy while she swore she had had a good night sleep. Her muscles felt terribly weak and puny while she and some of her comrades witnessed her training her ass off.

The same cactus scraped at the walls of her trachea again, causing her to hack harder and finally spat the accursed substance that she had been dying to drain with the tap water. Much to her surprise, what she just spit out was none other than her own blood. She inaudibly gasped and gurgled. That single drop of blood did not lie—apparently.

Initially, there was only Tobi who waited anxiously in front of the bathroom door. Soon, there came Kakuzu, Madara, Kisame, and Konan. Another few minutes later, everybody was waiting outside the bathroom either because of wondering or worry. All were curious by the coughing and the hacking made by Yoru. For the last ten minutes, the youngest of the criminal organization had been in the bathroom doing what she was currently doing. Little did she know that there were other men other than her boyfriend that concerned her well-being—one of them being the internally well-known moneygrubber. At which point Yoru hacked so hard and loud that the anxiety level in the corridor rose by twenty percent. Kakuzu gripped the front of Tobi's cloak.

"What have you done to her?" he asked brusquely.

"What? Tobi didn't do anything." Tobi defended.

"There must be something if she hacked like that!"

"It's alright, Kakuzu." said Yoru, appearing from the bathroom wiping the corners of her mouth. "Tobi had nothing to do with it. And to satisfy your critical thinking: no, I didn't willywonka with Tobi—yet."

"Oh." Relief loosened the tight muscles of his fingers and Kakuzu dropped Tobi as if the boy was just a mere sack of corn seeds. "And I didn't think critical!" he retorted.

Helping his younger twin regain his footing, Madara scrutinized, "Willy Wonka?"

Yoru gave the older Uchiha a cold stare that made Madara shrug pacifically. The flyer then strode off to her room, letting the impatient leader, Pein to rush into the bathroom and finish his business there. Once the leader was finished, he saw the remnants of Yoru's clamorous spasm on the sink that affect the expansion of his eyes.

"Yoru!" Pein called as soon as he got out of the lavatory. Said girl and her comrades turned. Yoru flinched slightly but made sure not to be seen by her friends as Pein walked up to her with an overwrought facial contour. Yoru said nothing and expected his words shooting shuriken at her. "You're bleeding internally." Pein said with his unsympathetic manner but anyone could feel it that the leader held a faintly shown yet strong unease.

Pein's factual phrase brought bewilderment to the men and woman around her. Yoru couldn't bear to look at those people's eyes. Although no stabbing intended but Yoru could feel the daggers, scythe, or the scimitars pierced one part of her body. What hurt the most was the question jumping out of Tobi's mouth, "Yoru-chan…you're sick?"

Pushed with a sham effort, Yoru shook her head and pulled an unsuccessfully reassuring smile. "It-it's OK. It's probably because of the battle. It'll recover in no time." No response; knowing that her friends wouldn't get fooled that easily, she retracted her smile into an awry but truthful one. "Don't worry. It's not going to kill me that easily."

"Still, Yoru, it's not like _you_ to bleed all of a sudden without a clear explanation. Admit it; you don't even _know_ why you bleed. You're as clueless as all of us." Kisame objected sensitively.

"_Trust me_." Yoru compelled. "I'm alright. This internal bleeding will cease someday." With that, Yoru deactivated the gravity surround her using her natal aptitude and glided her way to her room. It was not late at night, but the sun had long retired and Yoru decided to grab an early shuteye.

* * *

She thought this would be quite false to do—but alas she cared nothing about it. Yoru was one of those types of girls that liked to dip in the tub for a painful lot of time. Yet she was not stupid; she knew sooner or later someone would pound on the door demanding for her to get out. That was why she chose this particular time of the day: one hour before lunchtime. Lesser people used the bathroom at these times since they haven't eaten or drank anything.

Her favorite bathtub behavior was to submerge her body wholly into the lukewarm water and entered a subconscious state where her eyes closed yet her senses still alert. It was necessary; who knows, maybe some perverted or plain naughty member would barge in and secretly took a picture of a naked her. Yoru wanted to avoid getting heavily influenced with Kakuzu who tended to torment his pranksters, so whoever entered her private Zen of tranquility better had a reasonably good reason for peeking her bathing.

The water rippled, sending underwater waves that caressed Yoru's face. Something had just either dropped or immersed into the water and that something replaced the waves caressing her cheek. A hand—Yoru knew well whose hand this was. She grabbed it with her own hand and emerged herself from under the water to meet a masked face. Spluttering excess neutral liquid that she had been keeping in her mouth, she said half-heartedly, "Hello, Tobi."

Ignoring her unusual coldness towards him, Tobi swiped the misdirected sodden hair off of Yoru's face in order for him to get a better look of her uninterested, less than amused visage. He rested his chin on his other hand while his arm rested on the side of the bathtub. He had rolled up his sleeves so as not to get wet unnecessarily. "What is Yoru-chan doing?" he asked, half-innocently than usual.

"Taking a bath." Yoru answered matter-of-factly.

"With your clothes on?"

Yoru sighed, rolling her eyes in dismay. Tobi may still be gullible as his face had and regularly indicated, but at times his tone could be quite sardonic, although he didn't mean to. That one had just got Yoru on the right spot. Luckily, Tobi was sensitive at the same time so he immediately knew that he just offended or discouraged someone. And his way to comfort his girlfriend was by cupping his hand on either side of her face. That always worked; probably his hands were Yoru's upmost favorite body member. She closing her eyes was the first sign that she was captivated and was taking in the pleasure. Next, she would shift her head slightly so that the corner of her lips rubbed the lower part of his palm. Right beneath his mask, Tobi smiled lightly.

"There is something in Yoru-chan's mind, isn't it?" Tobi asked softly.

Still in the grasp of his hand, Yoru nodded unenergetically. "I don't understand what the hell's going on with me. It never happens to me—I don't even remember getting in touch with something toxic during our mission."

Tobi noticed the rise of temperature on her face as her soberness grew. "It's alright. Tobi will help Yoru-chan find the cure." Tobi said reassuringly. It delighted him when she responded positively. He arose from kneeling down; temporarily unattached his hand from Yoru's face and stretched his arm towards his girlfriend. "Come on out. If Yoru-chan stays there, she'll get sick."

With a light smile, Yoru accepted his hand and emerge completely from the warm water. While she unplugged the tub, Tobi wrapped a dry towel around her. Soon afterwards, both of them had vanished from the bathroom and arrived at Yoru's room in a blink of an eye.

Tobi rubbed the towel on her head, drying her hair and her face. He would proceed drying off other parts if Yoru didn't stop him. "Hey, I can dry myself, you know." Yoru laughed a little. Her little laughter was ruthlessly disrupted by a rough cough like she had last night. It alerted Tobi that he quickly bend down just to check if she spilled any more blood. Much to their relief, this cough didn't end up as messy as the last one. Nevertheless, Tobi discerned that her face lost a remarkably thin layer of color.

Following a sigh, Tobi said, "Better take those clothes off, Yoru-chan. You can catch a cold." Instinctively, Tobi turned the opposite direction only to found a mirror reflecting what he was not supposed to look at. As much as he would kill himself looking at it, he couldn't resist the omnipotent urge. He was no longer a good boy, he thought. All the principles he held on to in his entire life were cracking, shattering, and disintegrating. When they had their first kiss, they only splintered a little. It may be said that Yoru caused the self-destruct tendency but soon enough Tobi realized that he himself destroyed his own principles. All sacrificed for this girl. As of 1341 hours, he had shouted his farewells to his dear principles and metamorphosed from a naïve, gullible overgrown brat into his twin brother's life stage.

His mask securely strapped around his face, he observed the way she pulled the hem of her shirt up, revealing her grey t-shirt bra. The view of her semi-naked upper body had to cease as the towel he gave her draped her back, concealing most of it but her lean waist. As far as Tobi could remember, she was far skinnier than today. Pulling a small smile, he laughed silently at his invitations of having afternoon snacks that mostly consisted sugars and junk foods he gave her months ago.

Moving down, Yoru unbuttoned and unzipped her Capri's, revealing the similarly grey panties. Her both lower and upper bodies were now semi-naked and Tobi really wanted to throw himself to the window—yet he didn't.

His eyes expanded and his muscles remained frozen in place when he saw Yoru—still through the reflection—turning slightly toward his position. What she did just stared either at his back or the back of his head. Her stare, however, was not that of a suspicion or somewhere close to that matter. In fact, Tobi felt that her stare was more or less similar with his. A stare of a forbidden craving. Her fingers twanged slightly at the push of desire and she was almost consumed by it if she didn't shook her head and turned back around, completely obscuring the reflection of her face.

Now Tobi turned around, tentatively. Yoru somewhat paused in changing her clothes and chose to stamp her forehead on the wardrobe, doing nothing in particular. She seemed to be having a very much hard time, he told himself. By sympathy, he unstrapped his mask.

Silently, Yoru wept. She wanted to ask Tobi a favor but she refused to ask for it. She had this mental image that Tobi would hesitate or even refuse to do what she wanted him to do. It seemed so simple, her favor, but in real life it wasn't that simple. Her towel slipped off from her shoulders by both gravity and human force. She stopped the flow of her tears and immediately found herself in the man's arms. More to her surprise, she felt his lips trailing bashful kisses on her shoulder. Sighing in contentment, she leaned onto him and found out that Tobi was in the same condition as she: underwear only.

Unlatching his lips from her shoulder, Tobi gently spun her to face him. Swathed securely in his arms, Yoru brought the both of them to the bed in which she sat on first before Tobi followed suit, straddling her hips. Tobi did the first unimaginable: he kissed her—first. All this time, she did the action first and Tobi improvised using it from then onward. And more surprisingly, Tobi crashed his lips with so much force it overwhelmed her. All of a sudden, Tobi was not a shy kisser anymore—all thanks for disposing his 'good boy' principles and watching older movies other than Disney movies.

Hands roaming on his torso, Yoru tried to keep up with Tobi's vigorous pace. She found it quite difficult to do since she was not in a fit condition and Tobi was too overdriven by feral aphrodisiac. Giving up, Yoru let herself 'victimized' as Tobi continued to climb over her before squishing her in-between his flesh and the spring mattress. Despite being unaffected by their activity, Yoru's lungs violently released air, thus breaking their long adhered kiss. Tobi quickly retreated, giving room for Yoru to breathe. Rubbing her back, Tobi prolonged providing Yoru comfort. As soon as the cough reduced into weak wheezes, Tobi embraced his inamorata again.

"Sorry…" Yoru whispered in between excess small coughs. She wrapped her arms around Tobi's neck, holding him as close as she could.

Holding back equally as close, Tobi answered, "Don't worry. If Yoru-chan wants it…we can do it again later."

"But what if I screw it up again?" Yoru asked pessimistically, feeling uncomfortable.

"That's fine—it's not Yoru-chan's fault. Tobi will take care of Yoru-chan." he promised, warmly rubbing her back. His soothing words effectively swiped the discomfort in Yoru's heart and she sank her face in his crook, pecking the skin lightly.

"Thank you, Tobi. Thank you so much."

* * *

Yoru's eyelids fluttered, awakened by the small but sudden streak of sun ray flashing on her eyes. She exhaled loudly, even a little too loud for a frustrated sigh. As her senses come to perception, she noticed that the inner of her mouth still had a distinguished flavor sticking to the receiver of her tongue. She gasped and backed away but was stopped by the half-asleep Tobi.

"Yoru-chan…what's the matter?" Tobi asked groggily, yawning at the end of the sentence.

Yoru didn't answer immediately; she was trying to remember what happened last night. Yoru remembered Kakuzu and Kisame asking about how she was. She didn't see Sasori the whole day yesterday while she knew he didn't go anywhere. Then at night, Tobi teleported to her room and within minutes, intimate skin-to-skin contact was made between them. She remembered the energy she and Tobi had to spend; the mixture of heat and excitement. Although it wasn't what she and Kakuzu described as 'willywonka', but it was close and she loved every single moment of it. However, she couldn't remember the one thing she was desperately and forcefully trying to perspire from her brain. If it wasn't because of Tobi's help, her brain would have imploded.

"Yoru-chan coughed blood more than last-last night." Tobi said, not as half-asleep as before. "Yoru-chan spilled so much Yoru-chan passed out."

"I…I did?" Yoru asked in disbelief. Seeing that Tobi nodded to her question, she frowned. "See? I screw up again."

Smiling wryly, Tobi stroked her hair gently while she snuggled closer to his chest. They just felt each other's body warmth silently until Yoru decided to speak out her mind in a low voice that only she and Tobi could hear. "Come to think of it, I wonder if my parents and my little brother have the similar ability. I mean can they manipulate gravity too or can they reborn the same way I do?" Realization struck her mind and she immediately stopped whispering, "Could they be—alive?!"

"Maybe…or not. How did they die, Yoru-chan?" Tobi asked, though not as much as his girlfriend, but he was pretty excited too.

At that question, Yoru's excitement drained out of her face. She buried her face in her hands, exhaling loudly. "I don't know. Dammit…" she hissed at her failure to notice the missing point. Sympathetically, Tobi patted her head.

"Tobi, can I talk with you for a minute?" Madara's voice shattered their moment, much to Yoru's dismay. Tobi, on the other hand, wasn't so disturbed by the knocking.

"Tobi will be right back." Kissing her forehead, he hopped out of the bed and greeted his twin brother whose face was anything but good mood (I can't say that Madara's happy—that'd be the last word to say to describe him).

Flinching, Madara began to talk, "Pein is expecting you in his office. He—we need you—_now_." Madara stressed on the word 'now' and Tobi immediately comprehend that he wasn't joking. He nodded and Madara nodded back before his hand forcefully tried to shut the door that separated him from Yoru's room. "Now, would you please get dressed? I don't want to get blamed for your 'plain-looking'."

As soon as Madara shut the door, Tobi picked up his things and got dressed while Yoru just watched him with those longing eyes of her. "Do you really have to go now?" Yoru whined as she pushed herself to sitting position.

"Madara needs Tobi. Tobi has to help his brother. It's OK, Tobi won't be long." Upon seeing her slight frowning, Tobi added, "Promise…"

She nodded, somewhat half-understandingly and half-defeat. Tobi smiled delicately and pecked her before he met again with his brother who, by the time he opened the door, was frowning over his tardiness. Yoru's stomach tickled when he heard Tobi's goofy laughing; she couldn't help but giggle.

He was so different, she pondered. Tobi wasn't like this last night—last night it was as if Tobi's old self was taken away. At which point Yoru breathed inward at the realization and amazement of the power of love and lust. Even the almighty leaders of Akatsuki couldn't do such a thing. Instead, they were, in some time, consumed by it too. She never witnessed them, but with that age, they—Pein, Madara, Konan—should have experienced what she just experience last night.

She swung her feet out of the blanket, picked her clothes and got dressed. She needed air and she needed them now. By the way, the morning was the best for lungs.

* * *

Madara opened Pein's office and compelled Tobi to step in to the office by pushing his back rather uncouthly. Tobi stumbled but managed to regain his balance before he fell flat on his face. "Madara, what's the big idea?!" he complained but he stopped upon seeing Madara locking the door and shot him a deep stare—though it was less sharper than his 'first-level glare'. Tobi turned and was quite staggered seeing Kakuzu and Sasori in the same room sitting on a meeting table in front of 'The Director's Table'. He sat as obliged by his brother.

"We…" Madara began, "…have something very important to tell you."

"It's about Yoru." Pein added; he talked slightly more emotionless than Madara.

Tobi's feelings started to dislike this—no, he started to hate where this was going. Yet he had to listen; it has something to do with Yoru so like it or not he _must_ listen. "What's wrong with her?" he timidly asked.

Pein tilted his gaze to Kakuzu and Sasori, and the puppet master carried on from there onward. "Pein-sama gave me her blood samples he found accidentally in the bathroom. And we _all_ know that there was something wrong about her—so then yesterday, together with Kakuzu, we analyzed her blood and we discovered that…" Sasori looked elsewhere and Kakuzu continued.

"We discovered that she was poisoned." Kakuzu finished; the word 'poisoned' weighed hundreds of tons in his tongue.

Madara clasped his brother's wrist while he noticed the strains in his muscles. Tobi tried not to gasp, however it was undeniable that he was outright shocked with the discovery. Moreover, Tobi left his mask in Yoru's room so that the expansion of his eyes was a crystal clear indicator for what he felt.

Swallowing a gigantic lump in his trachea, Tobi asked, "Can't Sasori-senpai find the cure? There must be a cure, right?"

"There is, but we have no time." Sasori answered. "I found it in my book of poisons, but the problem is not only the most crucial ingredient is unavailable in Zetsu's garden but the time required to brew it is too long."

"Sure, we can tell Zetsu to bring us the plant ingredient but unfortunately none of us can control the space and time continuum. What you and Madara possess is not time teleport—it's just footing interchange." Kakuzu added. He sighed heavily, leaning back to the back of the chair. "Can I ask you something?"

Tobi raised his head up to face Kakuzu. He said nothing, but his eyes were expecting and his ears were listening intently.

"What was the last thing she ate before she started coughing those bloods?" Kakuzu asked.

Tobi rested his forehead in his hand, recalling back every gastronomy Yoru ate before she coughed blood. He remembered: "Konan-chan's cooking…the ramen…" he mumbled.

"Ramen? You mean the ramen you told me you ate in Forest Country?" Madara inquired.

"Yeah, that. But there was only Tobi and Yoru-chan in that ramen shop. No one sat beside us." Tobi explained.

"The chef." Pein stated sharply, his eyes slanting. "Although I am not so sure, but it is a big possibility that the chef is an impersonating ANBU."

"I'm a bit skeptical on that matter." Madara disagreed and turned back to Tobi. "What else did she eat?"

"Tobi can't remember. Tobi remembered Yoru-chan didn't have breakfast, so she couldn't get poisoned in the morning."

"This is peculiar…" Sasori mumbled, cupping his chin.

"What is?" Kakuzu asked.

"The poison takes effect four hours after the consumption. Supposedly, according to my data, Yoru began hacking at eight-oh-six. So if we minus four hours before…she should have consumed the poison at four-oh-six or earlier." Altogether with Kakuzu, Madara, and Pein, their eyes shot open wider. "Tobi! What did she eat at that time?"

Tobi racked his brain and his brain searched through the heap of files. Being equally old as Madara, he held too many memories. The chomping…what was she chomping? A white…bread? No, was that… "Ah! Tobi remembers now! The mochi cake! Yoru-chan bought a mochi cake and ate it by herself. Tobi was taking a nap when she bought it."

"Then that explains all. The poison is in the mochi. You have any idea where she got that from?"

"Tobi did ask and Yoru-chan only pointed to an old woman. That old woman…could it be…?"

Kakuzu indignantly grunted, "It could be ANBU, a bounty hunter that hunts on S-rank criminals, or a mercenary. Whoever it is, it learns that Yoru has no experience whatsoever with topnotch poisons and took that advantage to snuff her."

"But if Yoru-chan's going to die, she will reborn again anyway…won't she?" Tobi seek for hope. But what was reflected from the others' eyes showed no hope but its nemesis: remorse. His shoulders drooped, "No way…"

"If we just know from what clan she came from, we might yet again discover how her body works." Pein said sourly.

"She came from a supposedly ancient clan—a clan that existed long before I—we—was born." Madara presumed. "In fact, I think her clan had been long exterminated before the war of clans began. I don't know. There are really no records of people who 'reborn' from their old skin. If any, they must've stored hundreds of feet under the earth surface. It's—like what Yoru said to us when she first joined—it's like as if her ancestors want the clan to be forgotten for some reason."

"Yeah…she said that, alright. I remember that." Kakuzu huffed, slouching on his seat.

"This is crazy…" Tobi whimpered and he stood up.

"I understand how you feel, Tobi." Pein sighed, "Fine. You may be dismissed."

Only Tobi obeyed, or should we say, accepted the order. His brother and the other two Akatsuki remained inside the office, probably scrutinizing over their previously discussed subject. As soon as Tobi exited the office, he met Kisame who stood beside the door frame, leaning against the wall. Kisame looked up to see the unmasked Tobi. He noticed the same melancholy in Kisame whereupon he looked at his eyes.

"Kisame-senpai…" Tobi bluntly called in whisper.

"I heard everything." Kisame bitterly affirmed.

Tobi could say nothing. 'Sorry', he knew he made no mistake. Anything else would be just the same. In fact, it made him sound as if he was trying to avoid being a scapegoat. The silence could go on forever if Kisame didn't put his hand on one of his shoulders. "It's her last minutes. Go on and keep her accompanied."

Tobi's initially hanging head straightened upright. He nodded and before he went looking for his lover, he asked where she was first.

"She's outside near the river." Kisame answered.

Without wasting any more time, let alone grab some breakfast, Tobi hurried to be at her side again. As he ran, the dialogues in the office rewound and replayed. It was unfair, he thought. Yoru knew a lot about his lineage but he knew nothing about hers. Heck, even Yoru herself claimed she had not the blurriest clue about her clan. She didn't even know whether or not her parents and brother possessed the same power.

The river divided the front door to Akatsuki's secret HQ from the earth, bridged by the scarlet Shinto gate. Yoru would probably be sitting around on the cliff just across the Shinto gate. Yes, she was there. Her legs loosely hung in the air as she observed a school of uninterestingly dull-colored fish down below her toes. She could feel the boulder entrance shifted from its stationary and secured position. She expected Kisame and Itachi, or Deidara and Sasori since those two duos were the ones who got sent to missions more often that the others. Her guess proved to be downright incorrect. The one who came out from inside the cave-like entrance was none other than Tobi. Her lips extended sideways into a gleeful smile—a gleeful smile that strangely ached Tobi deep inside.

"Took you long enough." she remarked when Tobi settled himself beside her. "What? Did Pein-sama give us a mission?"

"No, he didn't, Yoru-chan." Tobi answered. His head tilted to the river below him. Without his mask on, Yoru quickly spotted the peculiarity in his expression.

"Tobi? What's the matter? You don't look so good." Yoru placed a hand on one side of his face, softly and nonverbally telling Tobi to meet her visage. "Did something happen?"

"N-nothing! Nothing happened in the office." Tobi quickly replied, confusing Yoru.

Without releasing his face, Yoru slightly nervously said, "It's…about me, right?" She interjected before Tobi could say otherwise, "Don't fool me, Tobi! Please, for me, say the truth." she demanded.

Tobi encourage to finally meet her face squarely, "You sure? Yoru-chan wants to hear the truth?"

Upon hearing his response, Yoru sighed and looked down before resting her head under Tobi's chin. "Actually, you don't have to tell me. I know I'm going to die. I don't know what's in me but I know the outcome anyway. That's what you, Madara and Pein were discussing. That's why you're here."

"Sorry, Tobi can't fulfill his promise." Tobi said regretfully.

Pulling away, Yoru shook her head slowly and smiled, "No, don't be. I'm glad that you're with me all the time. That felt like a cure to me."

"Then Tobi will always be with Yoru-chan." Tobi said, his hand clasping Yoru's tightly. Yoru was pleased but she felt guilty at the same time.

The two went nowhere but the woods surrounding the base. It was enough for the couple to spend their last times together. They chewed on a wild apple which tree was found near the spot they previously sat on. They also saw a possum and they decided to learn on its behavior.

As the day reached its peak, instead of getting intensely hot, the sky turned grey and sprayed its liquid to the earth below. The couple was compelled to take shelter under a tree—they made sure it wasn't a tall tree or else they would smell like fried chicken and Zetsu will droll over their very existence.

It turned that the sky was not the only one spraying liquid and projecting loud noises; Yoru began coughing again and it was much harder than the first or even last night. It only took seconds for her to finally lose her balance and subsided with her back to the grass. She would hurt her head if Tobi didn't catch her head and knelt with her limping body in his arms. Blood trickled, creating thick lines on the corners of her mouth. Her eyes were starting to loss their colors too, much to Tobi's anxiety.

"Yoru-chan…" Tobi gripped her hand which was too weak to grip back already. Despite that, Yoru still could pull a very small and weak smile. "Yoru-chan, no…" he whimpered softly.

"You know this going to happen, Tobi." Yoru replied weakly. She coughed again, spattering red blots to Tobi's cloak and a little of his neck. "I'm glad…to have you…with me."

"Yoru-chan…Yoru-chan can't leave Tobi like this! Tobi doesn't know anything about Yoru-chan!" Tobi half-bellowed. He was looking for words that he hoped could bring back his girlfriend. However, no matter how hard he searched, there was no way at all.

"Tobi, you need to be strong. Anyway…you still have Madara beside you. Your life…will return to the point where we haven't met yet. No one…will interfere you and Madara again." She unsuccessfully tried to giggle. Tobi was not amused by her attempt to joke.

Her eyeballs met his nearly-watery ones. She called his name and Tobi leaned closer, "Do me a favor…kiss me one last time."

Biting his lower lip, Tobi leaned even closer, adjested Yoru's position and locked his lips with her unmoving ones. Yoru had no energy to reciprocate but enough to smile and the warmth gradually drained and waned from her. Her eyes closed, absorbing the last fragments of the kiss. In spite that she was no longer warm, Tobi remained locking his lips until he himself had enough. For once, Tobi didn't look as vibrant as he usually seen. Even when he was fighting with Madara, he still had that vibrant aura around him. Now the aura was gone—completely. His eyes dry and his face remained unflawed by tracks.

Sensing an abnormality, Madara rushed out of the base, followed by all of the Akatsuki members. Outside the base, he found his brother, still kneeling and frozen in place. Madara never expected to witness this kind of condition from Tobi. He looked over his shoulder, beckoning to the two biggest Akatsuki. Kisame and Kakuzu nodded; while Kisame relayed Yoru's body from Tobi's arms, Kakuzu used his Earth technique to dig a grave and helped Kisame to lay her body on the bottom of the hole. Madara circled his arm around Tobi who then turn to place his head on Madara's shoulder.

The older Uchiha patted his younger twin's head, "It's OK, let it all out." he whispered.

Kakuzu sighed, "She reminds me of her a lot…" he murmured. He turned around and grabbed Hidan and Sasori's arms to climb out of the hole. Meanwhile, Kisame hadn't moved a muscle.

"Kisame, come on up." Itachi called over him.

"Wait. I want to see her face for one last time." Kisame replied.

Itachi nodded understandingly and was about to turn around somewhere when Kisame suddenly exclaimed, "Guys! Look!"

Kisame saw a movement under the girl's now bluish skin. His exclamation brought up everyone's attention and they all fixed their eyes on the dead body. Indeed, there was something moving under Yoru's skin. The movement got so violent that Kisame had to back away cautiously. Then…it just stopped.

"What the hell was that?" Hidan gasped.

Nobody answered and he wasn't really expecting one either. Then the skin peeled off, like an apple skin peeled off with a knife. The phenomenon sent malevolent shivers to the Akatsuki's spine; never had they seen this kind of thing before—even the century-old Madara Uchiha.

Goo gushed out from the holes made by the peeling off. Itachi clutched Kisame's upper arm's sleeve, telling him nonverbally to get away from the grave hole. Kisame refused and let the goo soaked his footwear. The prospect was too bizarre to be disregarded.

The strong current of the goo forced Yoru's peeled off skin to rip and let the whole sticky substance to flood. Being natural with liquid, Kisame simply just stood on the flood. His eyes along with the others' eyes widened in shock—dumbfounded by their new discovery. Tobi was the one to watch in disbelief the most. Right on where Yoru used to lie on, there was…

There was…

There…

Was…

* * *

Followed by a sharp gasp, Tobi snapped his eyes open. His back arched from the tree trunk he was leaning on to. He brusquely looked at his surroundings—Forest Country. Wait, he has been here, hasn't he?

Using his wooden mask, Tobi fanned his cold-sweating self. His chest hurt so much due to the atrocious clobbering of his heart against the ribcage. He cursed his brain for having such a macabre nightmare. Much to his apprehension, Yoru was nowhere to be seen—until she showed up few seconds later.

"Oh, you're awake!" she chirped, a gleeful smile on her face. Face! She didn't look deathly pale, let alone dying-look. She was standing in front of him with no signs of poisoning—wait, poison! "Look what I bought!" she showed the pack of a white powdered pudgy traditional Japanese snack. Tobi remembered the authentic dream he had earlier and realized that the dream was more than just subconscious imaging from his brain.

"NO!" Tobi bawled and slapped the pack off of Yoru's hands and let the dirt tainted the contents. Meanwhile, Yoru was protesting his act.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Can't you see I—" her upcoming words disappeared, eaten by Tobi's trembling embrace. She tried to push him off with her own muscles. Seeing that Tobi didn't budge from her push, she attempted to use her gravity element to separate herself from him. This time, instead of stopped by Tobi, she stopped herself. She become aware of that Tobi's embrace was different to the usual bone-crushing ones. This one was bone-crushing nonetheless, but at the same time, it showed off more emotions than she had expected. Tentatively, she circled her own arms around his back. "Tobi…? Mind telling me what the matter is?" she asked softly.

Panting and gasping, Tobi answered with a little shaky voice, "Tobi had a dream—a bad dream. There…Yoru-chan died." He tightened his encirclement to the point where Yoru could almost barely breathe. "It all started like this…" he added.

Yoru's eyes softened and she held him closer—not that there was any more space for them to squeeze in. She closed her eyes and devotedly rubbed the boy's back and nuzzled his shoulder blade that was currently the nearest body part to her nose. Explanation can come later; now she appreciated Tobi's successful attempt to protect her.

The macabre nightmare had rescued two people at the same time…

* * *

**Tragedy...tragedy...**

**This story's main idea appeared way, way back before the Kakuzu's Past Threeshot (whoops, a little spoiler! :P) but it took months and weeks of development before it turned into THIS masterpiece. There are times where I consider to put lemons or not but since I want my story to be read by all people (well, I don't recommend this to kids…) I just put insignificant lime. This story is actually an experiment of Yoru's mysterious ways of survival. If you have read **_**'Red Cloud Nox'**_** in which I introduce Yoru for the very first time, you know that she survived by 'hatching' from her old skin, right?**

**Here I'm experimenting if she gets internally damaged instead of externally, how would her body reacts after death? That…I have no idea what. That's why the dream ends. I just realize that Yoru lacked of character development. Probably I'm too protective over her—I don't want her to be a Mary-Sue. The scene where Madara comforted Tobi is the opposite of the last scene in **_**'The Armpit of Justice'**_**. And for those who read Kakuzu's Past Saga, do you know who was he talking about after he and Kisame placed Yoru's body in the grave?**

**And I just come to realization that it was in the dream the lime happened. That means... o.O Damn precognition...**

**I have to thank you all for reading. This may not be the best of oneshots, but I've tried my best. Reviews/critiques are welcomed.**


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